Since, each of us own ourselves, much of the logic of property appears to flow directly from this self-ownership:
According to Daniel, it is on the basis of self-ownership, that the entire world of things can become our property through our own economic activity. We are first cut off, or separated, from the world of things — those things which are not us — and only afterward attain ownership of those things by means of some economic activity. The economic activity unites our property in ourselves with the world of things which are not ourselves. And, these things which are not ourselves become our property as a result of this economic activity.
This view proposes that our property becomes our own as a result of our activity, which is our own as well: thinking, learning, valuing, each choosing our own ends and means without coercion. We can engage in these purely human activities because they are themselves necessary expressions of our humanity, i.e., of our self as human. They are inextricably and irreducibly bound up with the concept of the human self. In his book, Murray argues that this concept rested on natural law. Our self-ownership was a natural extension of our quality of being human. Obviously plants and animals don’t appear to have a concept of self-ownership, so far as we can tell. So, it is likely this concept of self-ownership emerges as we became human.
However, if actually pressed for dates when, and places where, we actually became aware of this human quality of self-ownership, we would be unable to provide any distant historical or anthropological evidence for this. We could look at the Constitution and other founding documents — but they only go back a couple of hundred years. And, if it still had to be established in these documents that we were, in fact, owners of ourselves, why was this necessary and not self-evident to society at the time?
The question is posed by these documents: If it was not generally accepted that we own ourselves at the time of the founding of the United States, who owned us before then? Rather than the argument standing as Murray posed it — that we own our property because we own ourselves — it is likely that the situation was the other way around: in order to be secure in our property, we had to declare that we owned ourselves — that our property “rights” against those who would injure them rested on the concept that WE were not THEIR property.
In our society, therefore, the fundamental form of property, ownership of self, thus rests on the idea that we are not slaves — we are not the property of someone else. It is not an argument founded on natural law at all, but a declaration of a new social order in the face of the old — a revolutionary manifesto of the way society was henceforth to be organized.
Which explains why, when Karl Marx examined the concept of property, he began not with the concept of self-ownership, but the concept of slavery:
Marx argues that the idea of self ownership was only the latest step in a long development of society characterized by anything but self-ownership. Society has not been a history of the individual freely disposing his or her own labor-power — the right of the individual to “think, learn, value, and choose his or her ends and means in order to survive and flourish” — rather it has been a history of the systematic “violation” of these individual “rights”, so much so that the very concept of self-ownership really does not emerge in its present form until bourgeois society (capitalism) challenges the fundamental assumptions of the old society.
The concept of self-ownership, which appears for us to be a completely commonsense, and indeed an almost eternal, feature of what it means to be human, is, in fact, a thoroughly modern invention — a product of our contemporary society. It did not, and could not, exist before the economic conditions of our society had already been well established. This does not in any way invalidate it as a social fact — as real as the objects we refer to as our property — but it allows us to clear all of the mystical nonsense surrounding the idea of property and the illusion that it is somehow natural, or conforming to natural laws.
Not only does the fact that self-ownership is a modern invention, not invalidate it, we need to inquire why, after these past two centuries, it is still a matter of conflict — why do we still need to assert our “right” of self-ownership?
Pregnancy intentions among Salvadoran fathers: results from the 2003 National Male Reproductive Health Survey.
International Family Planning Perspectives December 1, 2005 | Carter, Marion; Speizer, Ilene S. go to web site countdown to pregnancy
CONTEXT: In El Salvador, fathers less commonly say that pregnancies are unintended than mothers do. However, men’s pregnancy intentions are not understood as well as women’s.
METHODS: Data from 425 fathers participating in the 2003 National Male Reproductive Health Survey of El Salvador were analyzed to examine their intentions in regard to partners’ pregnancies that had ended in a live birth in the last five years. They were asked whether they had been trying to get their partner pregnant, how they had felt about the pregnancy and what they thought their partner’s pregnancy intentions had been. Descriptive analyses were based on the most recent pregnancy reported by each man.
RESULTS: A quarter of the pregnancies had been unintended from the men’s perspective–13% had been mistimed and 11% had been unwanted. Almost half (46%) of unintended pregnancies had been conceived when the father was trying to avoid pregnancy. However, 36% of men reporting an unintended pregnancy said they had been happy when they found out about it. For 20% of all pregnancies, men perceived that their partner’s pregnancy intentions differed from their own.
CONCLUSIONS: Family planning services in El Salvador need improvement, and services and outreach should target men. Men’s experiences with unintended pregnancies–in particular, contraceptive failure and discordance within couples about pregnancy intention–are complex and merit further investigation.
International Family Planning Perspectives, 2005, 31(4):179-182 ********** Today, national data from men about reproductive health knowledge, attitudes and behavior are available for more than 45 countries, and men are increasingly being included in smaller reproductive health studies. (1) Data from men are often compared with data from women to identify similarities and differences between the sexes and their group experiences. For example, in 21 of 41 countries with comparable data from the two sexes, married men reported that, on average, they wanted at least 0.5 more children than did married women. (2) In addition, levels of approval of family planning among married men were often higher than the levels derived from married women’s reports about their husbands’ attitudes. Such findings stimulate thinking about how men’s and women’s experiences differ and indicate the need to explore data gathered from men in more depth to understand their reproductive health attitudes and preferences.
Recent companion surveys of nationally representative, independent samples of Salvadoran men and women of reproductive age provide an opportunity to compare pregnancy intentions between sexes. Two types of pregnancies are conventionally categorized as unintended: those that were conceived earlier than was desired (mistimed) and those that were not wanted at the time of conception (unwanted). Unintended pregnancy is important insofar as it reflects an unmet need for family planning and the extent to which women and men have not fulfilled their child-bearing goals in terms of freely deciding the number and spacing of their children. (3) According to the survey of reproductive-age Salvadoran women, conducted in 2002-2003, 58% of recent pregnancies that ended in live births in the last five years were intended and 42% were unintended (18% mistimed and 24% unwanted). However, in the companion survey of reproductive-age men conducted in 2003, 75% of such pregnancies were intended and 23% were unintended (12% mistimed, 11% unwanted); for the remaining 2%, men’s intentions were unknown. (4) This difference between men and women in reported pregnancy intentions raises many questions about the meaning and measurement of pregnancy desires and intentions in El Salvador, particularly among fathers, who have not often been the subject of studies of unintended pregnancy.
To explore unintended pregnancy among Salvadoran men, we examined additional contextual information about recent pregnancies reported by fathers in the male sample. Specifically, the male survey obtained information on whether men had been trying to avoid pregnancy at the time of conception, whether they had been trying to get their partner pregnant, how they had felt about the pregnancy and what they thought their partner’s pregnancy intentions had been. With these data, we explored the potential contribution of contraceptive failure to unintended pregnancy among men, perceived discordance about pregnancy intentions between men and their partners, and evidence of inconsistency between men’s intentions and behaviors.
BACKGROUND El Salvador is a small country with a population of 6.5 million people, 45% of whom live in rural areas. Life expectancy is relatively high (about 70 years), and 80% of the population is estimated to be literate, although 21% of people live below the international poverty line. (5) El Salvador is characterized by gender inequity that generally favors men socially, economically and politically, although progress is evident in some areas such as education. (6) The country has had political strife for decades, and years of violent civil conflict finally ended in 1992.
Childbearing patterns in El Salvador have changed considerably in recent decades. The total fertility rate fell from about 6.3 children per woman in the mid-1970s to 2.9 children in the late 1990s. (7) In the 2002-2003 survey, about 67% of married women aged 15-49 said that they or their partner were using a family planning method; the proportion was similar in the national sample of men aged 15-59. The most common method used by women and men was female sterilization (reported by about one-third of all respondents), followed by injectables and oral contraceptives, and about three-fourths of women obtained methods from government health services. (8) Unintended and teenage pregnancies are pressing reproductive health and social issues in El Salvador. (9) DATA AND METHODS The data for this study come from the El Salvador National Male Reproductive Health Survey, carried out in 2003 by the Salvadoran Demographic Association, with technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first male survey of its kind in El Salvador, it included 1,315 respondents, reflecting an 80% response rate among eligible men. Sampling was stratified by area of residence (Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, other urban areas and rural areas) and was conducted in multiple stages, whereby neighborhood blocks and then households within blocks were randomly selected. Within each household, one male resident aged 15-59 was randomly selected for a face-to-face interview with a male interviewer. The weighted data represent the reproductive-age male population of El Salvador.
Men were asked questions about their partner’s pregnancies that had ended in live births in the five years preceding the survey. These questions tap into different dimensions of pregnancy desirability (Table 1). The first question was the conventional one used to determine if a pregnancy is intended or unintended (mistimed or unwanted). The other four questions assessed effort to avoid pregnancy, effort to get their partner pregnant, feelings about the resulting pregnancy* and perceptions of their partner’s pregnancy intentions at the time of conception. Information on pregnancies that ended in miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion was not collected in this survey because birth histories are considered more accurate than pregnancy histories, given that some women and men are less likely to report (or in some cases to know about) pregnancies that ended in abortion or miscarriage.
In all, 425 men answered questions about 577 pregnancies that had occurred in the last five years and ended in live births. Analyses were restricted to the most recent pregnancy reported by each man.
RESULTS From men’s perspective, 75% of the 425 pregnancies were intended (Table 1). The remaining ones were unintended (13% mistimed and 11% unwanted) or of unknown intendedness (2%). Sixteen percent of all men who reported a pregnancy said that they had been doing something (i.e., using some method of family planning) at the time to avoid conception. A greater proportion of men with unintended pregnancies than of their counterparts with intended ones said that they had been doing so (46% vs. 7%, p Nearly three-quarters (72%) of recent pregnancies occurred when the man was trying to impregnate his partner. As expected, this was the case for nearly all men (93%) reporting intended pregnancies, but for very few men (7%) reporting unintended ones. Overall, most men (80%) said they had been happy when they found out about the pregnancy. As expected, 94% of men with intended pregnancies had this emotional reaction. Notably, however, more than a third (36%) of men with unintended pregnancies also felt happy.
As a group, men perceived women’s pregnancy intentions as similar to their own; that is, 75% of men said they had wanted the pregnancy at the time of conception, and 71% believed that their partner had wanted to get pregnant (Table 1). However, in the companion survey of women, only 54% of women said that their most recent pregnancy ending in live birth had been intended.
At the individual level, the great majority of men believed that they and their partner agreed on pregnancy intention. Among men who said their last pregnancy had been intended, 89% believed that their partner had felt the same way. Among men who said their last pregnancy had been unintended, 81% thought that their partner had agreed (Table 1). Two-thirds (66%) of those who said their last pregnancy had been mistimed felt that the timing was wrong for their partner as well, and 65% who reported the pregnancy as unwanted said that their partner did not want it either (not shown).
Overall, 20% of men perceived that their intention regarding the last pregnancy and their partner’s intention had been at odds (not shown). Among men who had intended their last pregnancy, 10% thought their partner had not intended to conceive at that time or in the future. The level of perceived discordance was higher among men with unintended pregnancies (mistimed or unwanted), of whom 17% thought their partner had intended the pregnancy.
DISCUSSION While exploratory, these data show some of the complexity of men’s experiences with intended and unintended pregnancy, and highlight key issues in the prevention of unintended pregnancy in El Salvador. Almost half of recent unintended pregnancies that ended in a live birth were conceived when the couple (at least according to the male partner) was actively trying to prevent pregnancy. Counseling and services might have helped such couples avoid unintended pregnancy by improving their use of their current method or by providing them with information about more effective methods. this web site countdown to pregnancy
Conversely, more than half of unintended pregnancies were conceived when the couple was not trying to prevent pregnancy. These couples may have needed assistance in taking more active steps to achieve and clarify their childbearing goals. The same could be said for some of the men whose last pregnancy was unintended, but who had been happy to learn about it. This response may suggest that some men had not been strongly averse to the pregnancy, or had had ambivalent or neutral feelings about it. Some of these cases could also reflect men’s retrospective viewpoint at the time of the survey; that is, some may have grown more positive as the pregnancy progressed or after their child was born.
The perceived discordance between men and women about pregnancy intentions, at both the population level and the couple level (according to men), provides further evidence of the need for interventions to improve communication between partners about fertility goals and behavior. This lack of agreement, especially the relatively higher proportion of pregnancies viewed as intended by men, may point to profound differences in men’s and women’s perspectives on childbearing in general. For example, men may want larger families than women do, and may feel less affected by the responsibilities of pregnancy and parenthood. Many development programs, including family planning and reproductive health programs, are increasingly trying to acknowledge and address relationship and gender dynamics in their services. This study indicates that by using information from men in conjunction with that from women–or, ideally, information from couples–family planning programs will be better able to help reduce unintended pregnancy in El Salvador.
REFERENCES 1. The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), In Their Own Right: Addressing the Reproductive Health Needs of Men Worldwide, New York: AGI, 2003; and Salem R, Men’s surveys: new findings, Population Reports, 2004, Series M, No. 18.
2. Salem R, 2004, op. cit. (see reference 1).
3. International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Programme of Action, 1994, , accessed Dec. 15, 2004.
4. Associacion Demografica Salvadorena (ADS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Informe Final: Encuesta Nacional de Salud Familiar FESAL 2002/03, San Salvador, El Salvador: ADS, 2004.
5. Pan American Health Organization, Core health data selected indicators, El Salvador, updated 2002, , accessed Dec. 15, 2004.
6. World Bank, El Salvador–Moving to a Gender Approach: Issues and Recommendations, Sector Report, Washington, DC: World Bank, 1996, No. 14407-ES.
7. ADS and CDC, 2004, op. cit. (see reference 4).
8. Ibid.
9. Padilla de Gil M, Aspectos medicos y sociales de la maternidad en la adolescencia, Revista de la Sociedad Chilena de Obstetricia y Ginecologia Infantil de la Adolescencia, 2000, 7(1):16-25.
RESUMEN Contexto: En El Salvador, indicar que un embarazo no ha sido planeado es menos comun entre los hombres que entre las mujeres. Sin embargo, las intenciones de los hombres con respecto al embarazo no se comprenden tan bien como sucede con las mujeres.
Metodos: Para examinar las intenciones con respecto a los embarazos de sus parejas que terminaron en un nacimiento vivo durante los ultimos cinco anos, se analizaron los datos de 425 padres que participaron en la Encuesta Nacional de Salud Familiar realizada en El Salvador en 2002/2003. Se les pregunto si habian estado tratando de evitar un embarazo en el momento de la concepcion, si habian estado tratando de causar un embarazo, y tambien como se sentian con respecto al embarazo que resulto y cuales habian sido las intenciones de su pareja con respecto al embarazo. Los analisis descriptivos se basaron en el embarazo mas reciente que hizo mencion cada hombre.
Resultados: Segun los hombres, el 24% de los embarazos no habian sido planeados–el 13% habian ocurrido a destiempo y el 11% no habian sido deseados. Casi la mitad (46%) de los embarazos no planeados se habian concebido en el momento en que el hombre estaba tratando de evitar un embarazo. Sin embargo, el 36% de los hombres que indicaron que el embarazo no era planeado senalaron que estaban felices cuando se enteraron del hecho. En el 20% de todos los casos los hombres percibieron que su pareja habia tenido intenciones diferentes a las suyas con respecto al embarazo.
Conclusiones: En El Salvador, los servicios de planificacion familiar y los programas de extension conexos deben mejorarse y dedicar mas atencion a los hombres. Las experiencias de los hombres con los embarazos no planeados–en particular, con las fallas de la anticoncepcion y el desacuerdo en las intenciones reproductivas entre la pareja–son complejas y ameritan un mayor trabajo de investigacion.
RESUME Contexte: Au Salvador, les peres qualifient moins souvent les grossesses de non planifiees que les meres. Les intentions de grossesse des hommes ne sont toutefois pas aussi bien comprises que celles des femmes.
Methodes: Les donnees relatives a 425 peres ayant participe a une enquete nationale de sante reproductive des hommes au Salvador en 2003 ont ete analysees dans le but d’examiner leurs intentions a l’egard des grossesses de leurs partenaires ayant abouti a une naissance vivante au cours des cinq dernieres annees. Il leur avait ete demande s’ils essayaient d’eviter une grossesse au moment de la conception, s’ils avaient essaye de feconder leur partenaire, ce qu’ils avaient pense de la grossesse et ce qu’avaient ete, selon eux, les intentions de grossesse de leur partenaire. Les analyses descriptives reposent sur la derniere grossesse declaree par chaque homme.
Resultats: Un quart des grossesses n’avaient, dans la perspective des hommes, pas ete planifiees: 13% etaient survenues a un moment inopportun et 11% etaient non desirees. Pour pres de la moitie (46%) des grossesses non planifiees, la conception avait eu lieu alors que le pere essayait d’eviter une grossesse. Trente-six pour cent des hommes ayant declare une grossesse non planifiee se sont toutefois dits heureux d’en avoir appris l’existence. Pour 20% de l’ensemble des grossesses, les hommes percevaient, de la part de leurs partenaires, des intentions de grossesse differentes des leurs.
Conclusions: Les services de planning familial du Salvador doivent etre ameliores et des services et activites ciblant les hommes doivent etre assures. L’experience masculine de la grossesse non planifiee (en cas d’echec contraceptif et de divergence d’intentions au sein des couples surtout) est complexe et merite un examen plus approfondi.
Acknowledgments The authors thank Lisa Whittle and John Santelli for their helpful feedback on this article.
Author contact: acq0@botusa.org At the time this analysis was conducted, Marion Carter was an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. Ilene S. Speizer is research associate professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
*This was an open-ended question, to which men were asked to give only one response. The questionnaire included a list of options, with a slot for “other,” that had been determined from the results of the pretest. Interviewers were not instructed to read the options aloud, but many did so to help respondents answer.
TABLE 1. Percentage distribution of men’s responses to questions about their partner’s most recent pregnancy ending in a live birth, according to intendedness of the pregnancy, El Salvador, 2003
All Intended Unintended Question (N=425) (N=311)* (N=107)*
When your partner became pregnant with [child's name], did you want the pregnancy then, want to wait or not want it at all?
Wanted then (intended) 74.8 100.0 0.0 Wanted to wait (mistimed) 13.3 0.0 57.9 Did not want at all (unwanted) 10.5 0.0 42.1 Don’t know/no response 1.5 na na
When your partner became pregnant with [child's name], were you doing something to avoid pregnancy?
Yes 15.9 6.7 45.5 No 84.1 93.3 54.5
When your partner became pregnant with [child's name], were you trying to get her pregnant?
Yes 71.8 92.9 7.2 No 28.2 7.1 92.8
When you found out about that pregnancy, how did you feel?[dagger] Happy 79.8 94.4 35.9 Surprised 5.5 1.6 18.4 Worried 11.5 2.6 38.7 Mad 0.5 0.2 1.6 Other[double dagger] 2.5 1.3 4.7
When your partner became pregnant with [child's name], did she want the pregnancy then, want to wait or not want it at all?
Wanted then 70.8 88.8 16.5 Wanted to wait 15.1 5.8 44.5 Did not want at all 11.7 4.1 36.4 Don’t know/no response 2.4 1.3 2.7 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
*The seven men who reported they did not know their pregnancy intention or did not respond to that question were dropped from these tabulations.
[dagger]Only one response was permitted. [double dagger]Included frustrated, resigned, nervous, calm and indifferent. Note: na=not applicable.
Carter, Marion; Speizer, Ilene S.
